“I just don’t want to be one of those pathetic guys in lobbies who are always telling you about their big plans you know they’re never gonna do. I’d rather just be in the lobby and just be in the lobby. To tell you the truth, sometimes I feel like I was worn out the minute I was born.” –…
Italian castrato Farinelli (Sam Crane) soothes the troubled mind of Spain’s King Philippe V (Mark Rylance) who suffers from what the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders would code as a bipolar disorder. Despite support from the King’s physician Dr. Jose Cervi (Huss Garbiya), the Chief Minister of Spain Don Sebastian De La Cuadra (Edward Peel) advocates for the…
Currently in its Broadway debut, John Lithgow’s “Stories By Heart” first took shape in 2008 at Lincoln Center Theater in a special repertory presentation directed by Jack O’Brien. Then, Mr. Lithgow told one story on each of two nights. Since then he has evolved the play in theaters around the country, produced by Staci Levine, on evenings away from his…
“Yes exactly. I would’ve felt like a traitor. Besides, retired people are like nuclear power stations. We like to live by the sea.” – Hazel to Rose The success of “The Children,” currently playing at Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, is primarily the result of playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s effective and judicious use of tropes, particularly the…
Steve Martin has titled his new play “Meteor Shower.” Currently running at the Belasco Theatre, the comedy is as broad as the night sky above and filled with just as many stars and enlists the audience members to listen to and watch the actors on stage as they await occasional bursts of comedy that handily counterpoint the intermittent falling stars…
“M. Butterfly,” the stunning albeit straightforward play about fantasy, deception, espionage, and betrayal seems to have lost its way at the Cort Theatre. Whether this results from David Henry Hwang’s revisions and updates or from something inherent in the production itself is uncertain. This latest iteration focuses on Song Liling’s (Jin Ha) sexual status rather than on French diplomat Rene…
Walking into the Palace Theater to view the new musical extravaganza “SpongeBob SquarePants,” your senses are attacked by a barrage of Crayola colors, shimmering tinsel, happy music and an array of ornamental objects that appear as though Pee Wee Herman went overboard at Party City, shopping for a big beach bash. As you scrutinize the multifarious audience, there is a…
Beau Willimon is perhaps best known for creating the successful Netflix original series “House of Cards” which is completing its final season. Much of what made the series so savvy was the way the writers exposed the chicanery and dishonesty of politics without “naming names.” The episodes wisely left making connections to current events to the viewers. Inspired by Henry…
The highly anticipated new play by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar entitled “JUNK” – referring to the bonds sold in the 1980s by Machiavellian inside traders – does tend to sacrifice intrigue for the sake of entertainment. The plot centers around the fictional junk bond king Robert Merkin (played with unscrupulous charisma by Steven Pasquale), as he manipulates his…
“No, Time’s only a kind of dream, Kay. If it wasn’t, it would have to destroy everything—the whole universe—and then remake it again every tenth of a second. But Time doesn’t destroy anything. It merely moves us on—in this life—from one peephole to the next.” – Alan to Kay Rebecca Taichman’s staging of “Time and the Conways,” currently running at…